I feel like this would be a 10/10 if instead of BL, it was a psychological piece about the trauma of a victim

THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS!!! I feel this on a spiritual level. That’s why genuinely I felt (and to an extent still feel) that the Webtoon had potential at the beginning—it was an excellent portrayal of how the ultra wealthy and powerful wield their power over the poor, how abusers prey on those they know/feel they can easily manipulate, how they have many faces (how Jaekyang seems like a standup guy to many but behind closed doors he’s a completely different person), etc…but because it HAS to be a love story, it has to start treating this situation as if it’s a semi-normal one, where it’s about two people on equal footing who are mutually pining for each other and aren’t being honest about their feelings, or whatever. Hence why random dumb stuff just happens, like manufacturing completely inorganic situations/circumstances/opportunities for Jaekyung to be “nice” to Dan so that we can be “convinced” that he supposedly cares about him, or introducing a rival love interest to push forward their relationship/make them realize they’re in love with each other, or having Dan get hit by an aphrodisiac so he’ll practically be throwing himself on Jaekyung’s lap (this shit was SO stupid like if I turned my brain off it was hot but I could not for the fucking life of me get over how stupid it was)…just plain bad writing and really disappointing at that, considering, again, it really could’ve been something.

That said I still feel it could make for an interesting and halfway decent story, but it would have to handle itself REALLY FUCKING WELL to do it. Obviously it’d be nice of Jaekyung got jail time but we know we’re on the path to him getting redeemed. Fine. He better commit hard to it. I need him to get checked, HARD. More people slapping this motherfucker in the face and telling him how much of an ungrateful, uncaring prick he is. I need him to lose everything. I need him to be pissing and shitting himself because he’s lost it all, and then piss and shit himself harder when he realizes no one likes him and everyone just pities him and/or are laughing behind his back thinking they TOLD him so. I need him to be completely af Dan’s mercy. He needs to worship the ground Dan walks on. He needs to commit to changing for the better, HARD. It’s fine if he stumbles. But he should feel AWFUL when he does. I want to see him wracked with fucking guilt. I want him wallowing in it.

Furthermore, I need an acknowledgment of Dan’s trauma, and a recovery arc for him. It won’t be any good if after all the abuse Dan suffered at Jaekyung’s hands, the narrative becomes all about Jaekyung getting better—I don’t give a fuck about that guy (much). I need Dan’s self-esteem and self-worth to be thoroughly rebuilt. I need him to learn how to stand up for himself properly. Even if Dan instantly forgives Jaekyung, which I’m sure he will because. We all know what this is, we know what type of character he is, I need to see the effects of the trauma he’s endured at Jaekyung’s hands actually playing out. I need to see him still bending too easily to Jaekyung’s will, I need to see him struggle to express his own wants and needs, I need to see him still scared and hopeless and self-doubting about everything he does. I need to see him and especially Jaekyung acknowledge what is happening and work hard to work through it, so that he can get better. Again, of course, I need Jaekyung to feel awful about how badly he’s fucked this guy up.

Then and only then can I be happy with an ending where these two stay together.

First off, thank you so much for writing all that! Couldn't have said it better and it's an amazing comment to get!
I feel the exact same way, the story loses so much potential because it has to be a love story, because certain things have to be normalized like you mentioned with equal footing.
It's the same way I feel about Dan's "consent", it was forced by his miserable situation, he says " stop" multiple times and contemplates his choice, not to mention that "consent" can also be revoked.
It's actually amazing how well written this is as a tragic portrayal of a victim caught in an abusive relationship by someone much wealthier and powerful who is beloved by the public eye.
It adds so many layers to the victim's situation that many sadly experience in real life as well, standing before a "higher power" that they can't win against.

The whole aphrodisiac thing was hella weird! I honestly skipped the entire sex chapter because it felt off tbh
We get sex scenes every 2-3 chapters so I didn't feel too bad skipping that particular one.

Especially the whole thing about Dan being in love all of a sudden was weird, I get it because the story is meant to be about romance but we haven't seen romantic moments and prior to this only abuse so I immediately thought it was Stockholm Syndrome.

"Pissing and shitting himself harder" I lost it
I'm with you tho! Jail time and groveling would be so nice!
Him crawling at the bottom and experiencing what Dan has been through his entire life, feeling miserable and abandoned.
But I honestly doubt we'll get much of that because Mingwa has a type for dominant and arrogant guys, she'll probably stick with his general traits but will write a redemption arc in terms of him becoming more caring for Dan and realizing what he lost and so on.


We just need a realistic portrayal of trauma! And same as you, I want to see Dan get into therapy and heal and focus on that, we have seen a lot of physical effects of the abuse on Dan but what about his emotional scars? (Other than the topic of his "love" for JK we've seen quite enough of).
I want it to be properly addressed and not ignored in favor of romance and the progression thereof.
We need a character that feels organic (given his traits) and someone who grows and not just instantly gets better! I LOVED how you worded the last part especially!
I still think JK is the wrong partner to have in an emotional healing journey but I'm willing to see it play out.
I just don't want abuse to be a "hot plot" in a romance story but an element that is properly addressed for what it is and carefully dealt with.
Writing a character who experienced sexual violence isn't easy, there's a lot that goes into it to make it feel genuine. I hope we see that in the future, at least somewhat.

Btw I wanted to mention 2 works that really deal well with trauma.
First it's "A cruel god reigns" by Hagio Moto (sexual violence and it's consequences on the mind).
And secondly "The man who can't taste" that focuses on the mental trauma of the protagonists and also deals with the aftermath while they heal. Currently the ML is the one going through the motions.
It's really captivating and respectful.

BRO with the Stockholm thing I literally thought the same thing while trying to come up with some kind of rationalization as to why/how it could be that Dan would actually fall in love with this dude. I even started researching more because like, I'm not perfect, I can't claim a full understanding of the psychology of victims of abuse so it's not like I can just sit and say for certain that Dan falling for Jaekyung is unfeasible and unrealistic. And then I stopped midway through realizing I was probably putting more thought and research into it than the author themselves were, and that I was probably giving them too much credit in assuming they were trying and failing at portraying a genuinely abusive relationship to begin with!

My basic assumption/understanding, by the way, isn't that victims can never fall in love with or be in love with their abusers, by the way—I have written a fic about something like this happening to a character. It was that usually, in the cases where that does happen, the abuser tends to have had and shown some positive, redeeming qualities, at least at first, or that throughout the relationship, the abuser will occasionally play nice enough for long enough for the victim to try keeping the relationship going. Obviously you don't just start hating someone you've loved for a while, even if they do hurtful things to you. Obviously it can be difficult to accept that someone you've loved so dearly can be so horrible. All kinds of things that are ultimately understandable.

But in this case besides maybe a parasocial relationship between them, which may have inspired some positive feelings towards him on Dan's part, Jaekyang never even HINTS at being nice to Danny boy. Even when he does nice things like paying off Dan's debts or his grandma's medical bills, he goes out of his way to clarify that he ISN'T being nice, that he's just doing it for his own convenience and/or to cement further ownership over him. I can see how/why Dan feels INDEBTED to Jaekyung 100%, and how this sentiment would drive him towards acting more positively towards him, but love??? Girl like...stand the fuck up. Jaekyung's teammates have been kinder and more considerate of him.

And the thing is even with all this I want to say well, it could've been possible to make it more believable. But again, Jinx ultimately suffers from poor and ill-thought out writing. If we'd seen and understood more of Dan's backstory, why he would have such low self-esteem as to grow feelings of attachment towards someone who isn't showing him even NUGGETS of real love and care at all, then it would've worked! Alas! Likefelgjflssd PLEASE

And its like to your point this story did not have to be about these specific characters! Or if they weren't in a relationship with such a wild power dynamic, it probably could've worked better! Jaekyung could've actually been much more redeemable but he also suffers from being too one-note just as Dan does, we don't even know why he is the way he is. I agree he isn't the right person at all as it stands now, though, regardless. Even if the story ends the way I feel it ought to, it'd still leave a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. Because what are we really saying here? That you should stick out your abuse because there really, sincerely just might be a light at the end of the tunnel for you and your partner(s)? Like...don't people hear that enough? To just sit there and tolerate it? Give up their own EVERYTHING for the sake of keeping a relationship? Like, no man.

Thank you so much for the recommendations and...well I won't apologize for my big yap because I have so many thoughts about this story and how people are talking about it...anyway I just might check them out! I've kind of fallen out of reading BL/Manga/Manhwa in general just because eh, I like when it's not just romance focused, and also so often there is. This Kind Of Thing happening in them but I'll give these a try :D

I genuinely appreciate your comments because it shows you put thought and care into understanding what you're reading and likewise we share the interest for psychology and psychological works.
I also think it's probably mostly used as a way to get the romance aspect going because what has been portraying is a picture of sexual abuse and it's not unlikely that the victim falls for their abuser.
In this Manhwa however I don't think that's the case but mainly to "force" a romantic relationships and maybe make Dan seem less like a victim bc he's "into" JK...
If the author fails to see the nature of sexual violence in the sex scenes then I doubt she'd think of the emotions a victim would experience.
Yet again we may overestimate Mingwa's intentions and I don't want to assume anything, just sharing my thoughts.

I agree! An abusive relationship is often characterized with an unstable emotional state like you described.
It's often the false hope of their abuser changing to how they used to be and remembering the good memories that they don't wish to "throw away".
The fanfic sounds so interesting! I love topics like this being properly explored, these kinds of stores tend to stick with me and writing them takes research and a sense of sensibility towards the subject.

YES!! I've said in the past that the only nice things he's done for Dan were based on ulterior motives and for his own gain. Your point on the parasocial relationship is an interesting perspective and I can also see an emotional dependence that Dan might feel towards JK.
But yeah " love" feels like a hot take on Twitter lol

Your writing just based on this comment is so much better and informed
A story needs to feel genuine and have believable characters to feel any form of attachment to their suffering.
The main problem it feels so lackluster aside from the writing and direction towards romance is the amount of SMUT in this, not sex but straight up (torture) porn.
Almost every chapter feels like a fever dream!

Instead of exploring a character, let's put smut bc hot-Mingwa

And I hate that character development especially with the nature of their relationship suffers from that, you can't catch a break....
We have 50+ chapters and you're telling me there was no space for JK backstory or hints as to why he's behaving the way he is?? Umm wtf?
At times it feels like a horny teenage wattpad story.

Yeah if this story would've been more honest about wanting to be smut with shallow plot, no issue but don't trying to have an ambiguous story with lackluster writing and smut in place of development.

I'm 100% with you on the bad aftertaste. Questionable morals AF

KEEP YAPING pls, I enjoy your comments! :D
I get you, I can wholeheartedly vouch for these 2 to be good! A cruel god reigns is my favorite manga ever but it's hard to read.
The man who can't taste is romance focused but the writing is stellar and deals with homophobia and genuinely builts a healthy relationship.

oh shit dawg you an hell of a yapper lol

I HAVE THOUGHTS AND I MUST ARTICULATE THEM CLEARLY AND THOROUGHLY

The good kind tho

Yesss